Schu(Michael)... tries something new

artplumber · 05-27-2006, 07:33 PM

So something new from the Schumacher/Ferrari camp....

http://uk.sports.yahoo.com/27052006/23/renault-claim-michael-crash-suspicious.html

And perhaps the response:http://uk.sports.yahoo.com/27052006/23/official-schumacher-stripped-pole.html

What will they think of next?

911 in SC · 05-27-2006, 07:43 PM

Actually, listening to the announcers on Speed this morning, it sounded as though Michael has done things like this in the past. I'm very surprised that the FIA put him at the back of the grid. I'm an Alonso fan (so is my wife and daughter), so it royally ticked us off to see Schuey pull a stunt like that.

Joeaksa · 05-27-2006, 08:02 PM

Several things going on here. One is that he appeared to have room to get the car turned around. The left front wheel was not touching the barrier. He said that he tried to get it in reverse "then the motor stalled"... For how many hundred million dollars a year a professional racing driver should be able to engage reverse and keep the engine going.

Next thing is that Michael was kicked out of Monaco 3-4 years ago. Not in a race car but as a resident. He "lived" there for a bit as a tax dodge as do many of the rich and famous. Monaco does not have a sense of humour about this and if you are not really spending at least half of your time in the country they will kick you out and let you live somewhere that you pay taxes. From what I saw and heard on the racing blogs and from the F1 pilots the tax people got a look inside his front door and found a pile of mail inside under the mail slot showing that he had not been in the flat for over three months. This happened several times and they "invited" him to become a resident of another country.

The news and sports people here in the UK smelled a pooch right away. During the after race briefing the announcers said that he looked "sheepishly" and could not come up with a good explanation for his actions. Also that the "G" meters on the telemetery coming from the car did not show that he was braking anywhere near as much as the car was capable and had done in the last several corners. In other words they felt that he was padding and planned this from the beginning of the session.

Flavio was sure pissed! He said on live TV "this is the way the Ferarri camp does things these days" then marched off to file an official protest. Appears that he was not alone and it worked.

Am pissed... was going to try to make it to this race and the guys I am flying right now asked me to extend (can you say tip) which I did. We are flying early today and hope to be back on the ground by 1400 in time to see the start. Oh well, at least there is next year!

Dottore · 05-27-2006, 08:03 PM

Well, unless the stewards know something we don't, it looks to me like this is a case of MS being the victim of his own reputation. People think he is so good that he cannot make an honest mistake. Had Mark Webber or someone else made a similar "error" - no one would have questioned it.

Dottore · 05-27-2006, 08:03 PM

Well, unless the stewards know something we don't, it looks to me like this is a case of MS being the victim of his own reputation. People think he is so good that he cannot make an honest mistake. Had Mark Webber or someone else made a similar "error" - no one would have questioned it.

artplumber · 05-27-2006, 08:52 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by 911 in SC
Actually, listening to the announcers on Speed this morning, it sounded as though Michael has done things like this in the past. I'm very surprised that the FIA put him at the back of the grid. I'm an Alonso fan (so is my wife and daughter), so it royally ticked us off to see Schuey pull a stunt like that.

Schuey has had a number of interesting racing incidents. He's driven people off (and took himself out as well), but I think this is the first time he's tried this. I can see it now (probably British headline)

"Schu given the boot"!

Joeaksa · 05-27-2006, 09:17 PM

Peter,

Leaving London in two hours. Here are the headlines here!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/5023004.stm

http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=motorSportsNews&storyID=2006-05-27T214547Z_01_L27583312_RTRIDST_0_SPORT-MOTOR-RACING-PRIX-POLE-UPDATE-3-PICTURE.XML

http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=motorSportsNews&storyID=2006-05-27T214547Z_01_L27583312_RTRIDST_0_SPORT-MOTOR-RACING-PRIX-POLE-UPDATE-3-PICTURE.XML

They are not happy about it over here but then the relationship between the English and Germans have not been "warm" for a long time...

artplumber · 05-28-2006, 04:35 AM

Joe,
That seems unusual for them... I thought they'd do the bad pun thing for sure. Anyway, there is a good link about MS incidents in a number of hotly contested championships (for those who idolize him): http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/5024532.stm

911 in SC · 05-28-2006, 05:45 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Dottore
Well, unless the stewards know something we don't, it looks to me like this is a case of MS being the victim of his own reputation. People think he is so good that he cannot make an honest mistake. Had Mark Webber or someone else made a similar "error" - no one would have questioned it.

Here are some quotes from Reuters UK (third link posted above by Joeaksa)

"I hope it was deliberate, because if that was a mistake he should not even have an F1 superlicence," 1997 world champion Jacques Villeneuve told reporters.

"If you can make a mistake like that, you shouldn't drive a race car. There's no way you could make a mistake like that," added the Canadian, who won his title after a notorious clash with Schumacher.

And since you mentioned Mark Webber:
Webber said: "I just feel you don't have to do this stuff. Why does it always have to happen? It's like Mike Tyson biting someone's ear off, isn't it?"

I'm certainly not 'picking' on you Dottore, just stating facts...

Dottore · 05-28-2006, 06:03 AM

Did you see the incident on TV?

It could have been an honest mistake - and had someone else made that mistake I doubt very much they would have pushed to the back of the grid. Think back to some of the other qualifying accidents caused by rookies in the past.

I think you have to take the remarks you quote with a grain of salt. MS is the driver all others love to hate.

I have no way of knowing whether this was deliberate - but it seems pretty clear MS is being held to a very high standard by these stewards - probably higher than others.

911 in SC · 05-28-2006, 06:17 AM

I agree. Yes, MS is held to a very high standard. After all, he has won the F1 Championship 7 times now. He is regarded as being the best driver in the world by many. Shouldn't he be held to a higher standard?

Yes, I saw the whole thing. It appeared that he deliberately stopped in the corner to me. I don't think he took the corner too hot, as he didn't lock the brakes, or didn't have nearly the braking Gs he had in previous corners. He didn't attempt to move at all. His tire didn't even hit the barrier! It looked pretty deliberate to me.

Like I said, I'm surprised that he was put at the back of the grid too. Just doesn't seem like something the F1 Officials would normally do. In the past, it seemed to me that the F1 Officials tended to favor Ferrari, and MS in particular.

This is all just my honest opinion.

DaveE · 05-28-2006, 06:33 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by 911 in SC
Here are some quotes from Reuters UK (third link posted above by Joeaksa)

"I hope it was deliberate, because if that was a mistake he should not even have an F1 superlicence," 1997 world champion Jacques Villeneuve told reporters.

"If you can make a mistake like that, you shouldn't drive a race car. There's no way you could make a mistake like that," added the Canadian, who won his title after a notorious clash with Schumacher.

And since you mentioned Mark Webber:
Webber said: "I just feel you don't have to do this stuff. Why does it always have to happen? It's like Mike Tyson biting someone's ear off, isn't it?"

I'm certainly not 'picking' on you Dottore, just stating facts...

What "facts" have you stated, just two other drivers opinions. How many F1 races have they won in the last 4 years?

Beethoven · 05-28-2006, 06:50 AM

Yeah, Villeneuve is the first person I would interview if wanted an unbiased opinion on MS.

plain fan · 05-28-2006, 07:04 AM

So a driver, even MS, can't make a mistake? If it was Sato or Weber or anyone else on the grid the stewards wouldn't have even blinked. I can't believe that a driver, any driver, would take this type of gamble. If he had hit the wall and wrecked the car that move would have been a waste.

Have you guys seen the results yet? Yeah MS still finished in the points.

Dennis Kalma · Dennis Kalma's Garage

It doesn't help that MS has a history of doing stuff like this....witness his attempts to take out Damon Hill and Jacques Villeneuve....

I think MS is a lowlife cheater, however he is very talented and skilled and deserves respect for what he has acheived on the basis of his talent and nothing but scorn for soiling his achievements with cheap crap like he pulled at Monaco.

And yes, he is not being singled out in my opinion, others regularly get penalties of various forms and the media tends not to make a big deal of it. It is just everyone thinks that Michael does not need to do that kind of crap and so it is sensational when he pulls yet another of his idiotic stunts...

If I were him, I would be embarrassed and apologize to his fellow drivers....all the stewards did was to set matters right.

Dennis

Jim Richards · 05-28-2006, 07:53 AM

+1

sammyg2 · 03:07 PM

I watched it happen. It could have been deliberate and it could have been an accident.
Only one one person knows for sure. To penalize him for it is just BS because they are acting on an assumption and not the truth. Anyone who does that is a lowlife, not Michael. He is an outstanding example of professionalism and a great role model.
This is just one more example of how the FIA is blatently owned and controlled by the french. Anything to help Renault and Michellin beat the Germans, Italians and bridgestone. We've seen it too many times to deny it.

EDIT: IMO Jacques Villeneuve at his peak (which was quite a while ago) was a marginal driver who belonged in CART, not F1. He drove dirtier that Michael ever has, so his opinion means very little to me and is far from fact.

turbo6bar · 05-28-2006, 09:02 AM

It looked like Schu really botched the turn. How could he ***** up that bad? It's not like the locked up a tire or lost the rear end. The car went where he steered.

DaveE · 05-28-2006, 09:13 AM

He lost the rear going in to the previous turn and was out of shape going into that turn. From the in-car camera it looked like there was tire smoke also.

artplumber · 05-28-2006, 09:51 AM

To those who defend MS, I can't say that I like the guy and hence you may discount opinions offered about whether it was intentional or not. Nevertheless, he clearly has been involved in a number of incidents where he exceeded the bounds of etiquette and racing fair play. See the above link. Schu is not the cleanest, and frankly I think he just gets a little "road rage" going sometimes. This incident suggested something more calculated.

As to qualifying strength, the fact is this "incident" occurred at the end of qualifying and others on the course were running hot laps which had to be slowed when the flags came out. Despite the slowing, Alonso only was a tenth slower on that lap. Hence, it is likely that FA probably would have (at least temporarily) been on pole instead.

The penalty was surprising (I thought they'd put him at the back of the final qualy group), but the FIA has previously been accused of looking the other way before w/Ferrari and probably felt they had to make a statement especially since the Barrichello orders incident.

As to where Schu finished, Schu clearly was in the top ten in terms of speed in qualifying, so it's no surprise that he got by people 2-4 seconds slower per lap. His fast lap was just a little faster than Kimi, and as soon as it was evident that Alonso was going to win - Kimi gone etc, FA no longer really pushed.